lavendeb



(No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

H. P. LAVENDER. LETTER FILE,

No. 6051 492." 7 Patented June 14, 1898.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. H. P.-LAVENDER.

I LETTER-FILE. No 605,492. Patented M11614, 1898.

HERBERT PRICE LAvENDEE, or WALSALL, ENGLAND.

LETTER-FILE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 605,492, dated June 14, 18 98. Application filed'May 3,1897. Serial No. 684,929. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, HERBERT PRICE LAVEN- DER, a subject of the Queen of England, residing at Walsall, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Letter-Files, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the construction of letter-files, its principal object being to enable them to be folded flat, so that they will occupy less space in packing than similar devices made in the manner which has heretofore been customary; and the invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement, and combination of parts, as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a file constructed according to this invention with its cover turned back, one ofthe filing arms or wires being indicated by dotted lines in the position to which ,it is moved when papers are to be put on or taken off the companion wire. Fig. 2 is asimilar View of the file with its cover closed and both wires folded down, so that the parts are in the position which they are intended to occupy when stored. The compactness of the device when thus folded will be obvious from this figure. Fig. 3 is a side View, partly in section, illustrating a modified construction of the file.

Like letters indicate like parts throughout 1 the drawings.

bent at right angles, as shown, and received within a metal tube E, which contains a spring F, placed in compression between the ends 0 D, so asto tend always to separate them. The tube E is itself held in the desired position on thebase plate A by clips A A formed upon the latter, and two abutments A A limit the movement of the wires 0 D away wire D, the wire 0 is first forced toward the wire D, andthus moved out of the groove A in the abutment A against the resistance of the spring F within the tube E, after which it can be readily turned to one side into the position in which it is indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1.

If the file is to be folded for stowage, both the wires 0 and D are forced toward each other out of the grooves A in the abutments A A against the resistance of the spring F, and can then be turned over approximately into the plane of the base-plate A, as shown in Fig. 2,. so as to lie quite flat upon the outside of the cover B, which itself lies fiat against the back 13, as shown.

The outer end of the wire 0 is beveled or grooved, as at 0, against which the outer adjacent end d of the wire D may lie when the wires are in the position seen in full lines in Figs. 1 and 2.

Modifications may be made in the device without departure from the spirit or scope of theinvention. For instance, as shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, the upper arm might eonsist of a flat plate G, projecting at right angles from the base-plate on a level with the tip of the lower wire or arm D, in which case the latter is arranged to fold over sidewise, as in the first-described construction, the upper arm or plate being arranged to fold down, so as to lie parallel with the base, being normally pressed in that direction (indicated by the arrowlby a coil-spring H on the pivot of the plate G, one end of the spring bearing against the base and the other end against the upper edge of the plate or arm G.

Two or more arms or pairs of arms canbe nected with the support, of a spring carried by the support and compressed between the inner ends of the arms and tending to press said arms apart, and stops for limiting the movement of the arms away from each other.

2. In a letter-file, the combination with a base or support, of filing-arms having angu larly-bent inner ends, a tube carried by the support into which tube the said bent ends of the arms project, a spring within the tube and bearing upon the bent ends of the arms and a stop on the support both above and below the tube against which the arms are pressed by the spring.

3. In a letter-file, the combination with a base or support, of a pair of grooved abutments A A a tube E, filing-arms C, D, pivoted in the tube and movable in the direction of its axis, and means to keep the arms and abutments in engagement.

4. In a letter-file, the combination with a base or support, and a stop, of independent filing-arms arranged one above the other in substantially the same vertical plane and normally extending at substantially right angles to the support, one of said arms having a pivotal connection with the support and adapted to be moved first in a direction toward the other arm to free it from the stop and then to be swung upon its pivot laterally toward the face of the support, and a spring arranged to act upon the pivoted arm so as to tend to force the latter away from the other arm and to hold the pivoted arm in engagement with the stop when said pivoted arm is in its normal position over the otherarm, substantially as described.

5. In a letter-file, the combination with a base or support, and stops, of filing-arms each pivotally connected with the support and adapted to be normally held by the stops in a position at right angles to the support, said arms being arranged one above the other in substantially the same vertical plane, and each arm being adapted to be moved toward the other arm to free it from its respective stop and to be swung upon its pivot laterally toward the face of the support, and a spring arranged to act upon both arms to tend to force the same in opposite directions and to cause them to engage their stops when in normal position one above the other,'as described.

In witness whereof I have hereto set my hand in the presence of the two subscribing witnesses.

HERBERT PRICE LAVENDER.

YVitnesses:

ERNEST W. (JOTTERE L, H. C. BoYooTT. 

